D&D 5E D&D 5E Does flanking grant advantage ?

[Awesome Adam]

FWIW, you can stop arguing against it use for my benefit. It's a rule we have chosen to use. I just couldn't remember where I read it originally.

The players tend to use it when ganging up on a big bad.

The monsters tend to use it to swarm high AC PC's.

In an actual fight to the death it isn't so simple, who is letting someone get behind you like that?

You are outnumbered and the enemy have circled around you. On your your initiatuve you can move to face them both, but since they go first, they have you at an angle you can't properly defend against.

Don't believe me ? Get some padded swords and friends, have them come at you from opposite sides, and defend yourself without repositioning yourself 5 or more feet. They'll have an advantage.

Thank you all again, for your input

 

[ad_hoc]

FWIW, we've been running with this rule since day 1, and it really evens out in the end, because monsters are also smart enough to seek advantage. It makes our fights more mobile, as everyone is trying to get into flanking and out of being flanked. This is our solution to otherwise static combat.

The problem is not fairness. The problem is that it renders anything that gives advantage obsolete.

You are missing out on a large portion of the game.

 

[Illithidbix]

One big difference between 5E and 3E&4E is that in 5E you only provoke Opportunity Attacks by moving out of a hostile creature's reach (who can see you).
In 3E and 4E you tended to provoke if you moved from a space within the reach.

The 5E version makes it easier when you're playing "theater of the mind" style without a grid.
But when you're playing with a grid it makes getting behind someone alot easier than in 3E&4E.
So you might want to house rule how Opportunity Attacks work as well if you add the flanking rules.

As a LARPer, I entirely concur that flanking and outnumbering gives a huge advantage in combat that 5E doesn't simulate. But then it's not a hardcore combat sim.
I actually rather like the facing rule and the use of using your Reaction to change your facing during someone else's turn.

 

[Awesome Adam]

We use a house rule in which having a 2:1 or greater advantage over your foes grants, well, advantage in melee. So 2 goblins versus 1 PC have advantage, but 3 PCs versus 2 orcs don't.

I can see the logic behind it, but I prefer the positional nature of the flanking rule.

They are situations that will occasionaly overlap, but it would bother me if 4 skeletons standing in front of 2 trained fighters automatically had advantage due to weight of numbers.

 

[Reynard]

I can see the logic behind it, but I prefer the positional nature of the flanking rule.

They are situation are going to overlap, but it would bother me if 4 skeletons standing in front of 2 trained fighters automatically had advantage due to weight of numbers.

Yeah, the positional element is the least interesting to me because of the kinetic nature of combat. That said, if two fighters decided to "hold the door" or "fight back to back" to specifically counteract the advantage gained from numbers, i would not have a problem with that.

 

[Halivar]

The problem is not fairness. The problem is that it renders anything that gives advantage obsolete.

You are missing out on a large portion of the game.

In theory, I can see that. It has not happened in practice, and that could be for any number of reasons. I think that the chief one is that I have smart monsters cover the angles in such a way that gaining advantage means granting advantage in turn. My players are quite risk-averse, so one person may get advantage once every couple turns before their confederate scampers off to avoid getting nuked.

 

[bedir than]

The problem is not fairness. The problem is that it renders anything that gives advantage obsolete.

You are missing out on a large portion of the game.

But even one thing granting disadvantage does the same thing. If you are flanked do something to grant disad. Both are now gone.

 

[Halivar]

But even one thing granting disadvantage does the same thing. If you are flanked do something to grant disad. Both are now gone.

I like your thinking, but this houserule skews boss fights against solos more than they already are.

 

[bedir than]

It isn't a house rule. it's straight from the DMG.

 

[cmad1977]

I wouldn't use the flanking rules myself in this edition. But whatever works.